Members of the French-speaking, African Catholic community in the Burlington area gathered March 11 to pray for peace in the troubled Democratic Republic of Congo, a central African nation from which many came to Vermont.

“We cannot forget our first country,” said Jules Wetchi, president of the French African Catholic community and the Congolese Catholic community in Burlington.

Earlier this year, Congolese Church leaders, including the nation's cardinal, condemned security forces' attacks on Catholic protesters that left at least five dead and 120 people detained.

The Vatican Embassy in Kinshasa backed local Church officials, saying that the promotion of social justice and the defense of political and civil rights of citizens are an integral part of the social doctrine of the Church.

The bishops’ statement said they were "profoundly shocked by such ignoble acts" and would demand a "serious and objective inquiry" into who was responsible.

Police used tear gas and batons against Massgoers in some of the capital's parishes and violently broke up attempted marches in which protesters demanded fresh elections in the country. The nunciature said 134 churches were surrounded by police, and at least two parishes were not permitted to celebrate Mass Dec. 31. In five parishes, Mass was interrupted by security forces.

In a statement, Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya of Kinshasa called the response "nothing short of barbaric." He said people at Mass, armed only with Bibles and rosaries, were attacked with tear gas.

A Catholic Church-mediated agreement signed at the end of 2016 included a commitment that presidential elections would be held before the end of 2017; they were not.

During the Mass for peace at St. Joseph Co-Cathedral in Burlington, Father Lance Harlow, rector, said the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo are undergoing a “long Lent,” referring to a period of suffering and purification because of “murders, hunger, persecution of the Church, displacement of people and refugees leaving the country.”

Local immigrants are “rightfully upset,” he said, saying they cannot “go back to this darkness” to see family and friends.

He urged them to unite their prayers with Jesus on the cross because He is the only one who can go into the darkness there and come out of it unscathed: “We can’t enter into a world of sin and become a sinner in order to save sinners. Only Jesus can save sinners.”

Father Harlow celebrated the Mass in French and delivered his homily in French.

Lyliane Nzili and her mother, Marie Mbambu, members of the congregation, are both from the Democratic Republic of Congo. They expressed concern about the lack of elections and violence there.

Nzili’s 25-year-old son and extended family still live there, and she is worried for their safety. Mbambu prays for the Holy Spirit to fortify her family there.

Wetchi, who wore a colorful scarf with the name of his homeland printed on it, has four brothers, four of five sisters and his mother living in the Democratic Republic of Congo. “I’m worried because they don’t know if they can survive,” he said. “There is a lot of insecurity now.”

Father Harlow told the congregation, which also included people who were not from Africa, that he prayed with the African people for their country with hope. “Peace in your country,” he said, and was greeted with “amens” and applause.

In his Post-Synodal Exhortation, “Amoris Laetitia” (paragraph 189), Pope Francis states: “The fourth commandment asks children … to honor their father and mother (Ex 20:12). This commandment comes immediately after those dealing with God himself. Indeed, it has to do with something sacred, something divine, something at the basis of every other kind of human respect. The biblical formulation of the fourth commandment goes on to say ‘that your days may be long in the land
which the Lord your God gives you’. The virtuous bond between generations is the guarantee of the future, and is the guarantee of a truly humane society. A society with children who do not honor parents is a society without honor… it is a society destined to be filled with surly and greedy young people” (quoting his Catechesis (Feb. 11, 2015).

The sacredness of caring for one’s parents — or anyone who is elderly, for that matter — confers a double grace. The elderly person receives the gift of charity, and the younger person makes the sacrifice because of charity. Rooted in the Fourth Commandment then, it follows that honoring any elderly person bestows God’s blessing. The greater the sacrifice required by the younger generation, the greater the blessing.

One sees this specifically in the case of a child caring for a parent with Alzheimer’s disease or a priest caring for his parishioner. It requires great patience, perseverance and humility.

As a priest, I have visited many parishioners with Alzheimer’s or dementia. In one case I walked arm-in- arm with an elderly lady outdoors because the nursing staff encouraged her to walk. People told me they saw me walking my mother on the sidewalk. She was not my actual mother; she had lived on a farm where I visited her.

In another assignment, I arrived at mealtime at a nursing home to find one of my parishioners in the dining room. Because of her Alzheimer’s she could still sit at the table, but couldn’t mentally process lifting her fork to her mouth to eat. With the nurse’s permission, I fed her lunch and remembered she had once counted the weekend collection for me at the parish.

I also visited with a former college professor of mine who was a specialist in French grammar. We spoke French together, and I always brought her flowers because it made her so happy. She never remembered I was her pastor and former student.

As God the Father promised in the Fourth Commandment, honoring and caring for the elderly — whether related or not — is a blessing, despite the sacrifices imposed upon a restless younger generation. Such charity guarantees the preservation of a humane society and prevents what Pope Francis calls a “surly and greedy” younger generation bereft of grace because of selfishness.

Sacrifices always involve some pain, but God the Father promises a long life (that is, blessings) to those who honor the elderly. I hope someday in my old age, somebody will take me for a walk, feed me if I can no longer remember how to feed myself and maybe even bring me flowers — whether I remember it or not.

As New Americans continue to resettle in Vermont, members of the Catholic community embrace them and help them to make the Green Mountain State their home.

This, they do in myriad ways including helping the immigrants find and set up homes, access social services and jobs, maintain their culture and practice their faith in meaningful ways.

For example, in Burlington, St. Joseph Co-Cathedral hosts Mass in French for members of the Francophile African community.

Father Lance Harlow, rector, celebrates the special Sunday evening Mass about once a month to help the participants preserve their Catholic faith and their culture. “They have a purity of Catholic faith through their culture but not affected by the Puritanism that affects most of Northeast America,” he said.

At a recent Mass, about 50 people — children, teens, working adults and the elderly — gathered in the front left section of the co-cathedral, many wearing clothing made of traditional African cloth and featuring designs of the Blessed Mother. They sang and clapped; some played instruments like drums and shakers, others made a “sound of joy” like a trill they called “bikelekele” or waved a scarf.

“It’s great. You get to get back to the same experience as back home. It kind of recreates that,” said Rachel Miyalu who left the Democratic Republic of Congo and came to the United States seven years ago, three years ago to Vermont.

“I like Mass in French,” said Gertrude Maboueta who came to Vermont six years ago from the Congolese capital of Brazzaville. “Father Lance teaches us in French because the French is our language.”

Father Harlow took French classes in high school and college and continues to take private lessons through the Alliance Francais.

He celebrates Mass in French and preaches in French, to the delight of the congregation.

“I am very, very happy,” said Claudine Nzanzu who came to Vermont five years ago from Democratic Republic of Congo. “This is a lovely Father, a good Father, who celebrates the Mass for us in French. He’s an angel to us.”

Most of the members of this congregation are from Democratic Republic of Congo, and their English proficiency varies, but they all appreciate Mass in French and its liveliness. “English Mass is not active. We don’t dance,” said Nzanzu who shook the rattle-like instrument and waved her arms in joy and praise during the Mass.

Ophthalmologist Jules Wetchi, 39, left Democratic Republic of Congo and came to Burlington in 2013; he works as a medical technician and is studying for a master’s degree in public health from the University of Vermont. He was active in his church in the Archdiocese of Kinshasa and formed the French-speaking Catholic community in Burlington.

A language barrier is often the first challenge New Americans face when they come to Vermont, he said, and that is especially difficult at Mass. So his goal was to create a community to help people maintain their Catholic faith and to be engaged in the Mass; the French Mass began in 2016.

The co-cathedral was the perfect place for the community to form, not just because Father Harlow speaks French — and can hear their confessions in their native language — but also because of its central location for Mass and other religious gatherings like the recitation of the rosary and Gospel study and social gatherings like post-Mass potluck dinners.

Wetchi, an extraordinary minister of holy Communion who speaks four languages, said finding a home in an historically French national parish, is especially meaningful for the French-speaking African community there which now numbers nearly 50.

“When you come for God, you need to be happy because God loves us and nobody loves us like God,” Nzanzo said. “This Mass is a blessing.”

— Originally published in the Winter 2017 issue of Vermont Catholic magazine.

Caution: This article concerns working with the poor, the homeless, the mentally ill and addicts. If your experience of this kind of ministry is limited to the occasional conference talk on social justice in an air-conditioned building, bolstered by small group discussions followed by a tasty lunch, you won’t appreciate it.

If you have hands-on experience with the above-mentioned population, who rejected your good intentions at “helping them,” then you will understand the Gospels in their complexity and entirety.

For most Christians, the seminal Gospel passage often quoted regarding social justice and ministry to the poor is Matthew 25:35-40: “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’”

This Gospel makes clear the various acts to be performed, but the sacrificial act of ministry is not complete without the cross. For ministry to be fruitful the mystery of the cross looms behind every act of charity. An act of love, met with the rejection of the intended recipient, if united with the suffering of Jesus on the cross, can produce spiritual fruit more efficacious than any pious sermon on the preferential option for the poor.

Remember what happened to Jesus in John 5:1-16 when He bestowed two healings on the man at the Pool of Bethesda who had been paralyzed for 38 years? The man is healed but nonetheless intentionally betrays Jesus to the authorities for having told him to carry his mat on the Sabbath which led to an intensified persecution of Jesus.

Jesus’ act of charity is met with ingratitude, betrayal and suffering. But, did Jesus stop healing the sick? No.

So, what do you do when the sandwich you offer the hungry man is thrown with contempt in the garbage? You still feed the hungry. When the water you offer the thirsty one is left behind for alcohol? You still give water to the thirsty. When the clothes you offer the poor family are exchanged for drugs? You still give clothes to the poor. When you offer kindness and compassion to the mentally ill or addicts and they calumniate you? You remain kind and compassionate. But, most importantly, you pray to the Father from the depths of your soul uniting your frustration, hurt feelings and misunderstood intentions to Jesus so that He may elevate those acts of charity to the supernatural heights of mercy which we alone, without the cross, are unable to accomplish.

From those heights a shower of grace descends upon the poor, which a mere sandwich, bottle of water, pair of boots or kind smile was unable to achieve by itself. Such is the complexity of social justice and ministry to the poor. Not every recipient of charity is ungrateful, obviously. And many will be kind, pleasant and enjoyable. But don’t let those who betray you and hurt your feelings stop you from performing the good works of the Kingdom.

Jesus didn’t stop. And neither did the saints.

--Originally published in the Winter 2017 issue of Vermont Catholic magazine.

Father Lance Harlow, rector of St. Joseph Co-Cathedral and Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception parishes in Burlington, has received the Rev. Charles Albert Dickinson Award for outstanding contributions to the field of child welfare and commitment to transforming the lives of children and their families from Kurn Hattin Homes for Children in Westminster.

The award was presented on Dec. 14 at the annual Christmas concert, and Stephen Harrison, executive director, read his contributions to Kurn Hattin Homes.

Father Harlow is a longtime volunteer and supporter of the residential school.

“I was very much surprised, but also pleased, that the St. Nicholas Project, which I
founded in 2015 to link the Catholic Community in Vermont with the works of Kurn Hattin Homes, had indeed made a significant impact on supporting the homes,” Father Harlow said.

This fall, through the generosity of donors, The St. Nicholas Project raised about $25,000, “but more importantly brought attention to the good works of Kurn Hattin across Vermont, many states in the United States and Canada,” he continued. “While I am humbled and pleased to receive this award, I am also inspired to keep the charitable works of the St. Nicholas Project moving forward.”

Since 2013, Kurn Hattin Homes has presented the Rev. Charles Albert Dickinson Award, the founder of Kurn Hattin Homes in 1894, to a recipient who has made a significant contribution to the field of childcare at Kurn Hattin. The award features an engraved profile of Rev. Dickinson etched in glass.

Since 1894, Kurn Hattin has helped thousands of children and their families by offering a safe home and quality education in a nurturing environment.

The St. Nicholas Project seeks to invite the Catholic community in Vermont to participate in the good works taking place at Kurn Hattin. “Since the Catholic Church in Vermont no longer has an orphanage or any direct child-care-related ministries, it seemed the perfect relationship for Catholics to perform works of mercy and experience the joy of loving Jesus in these children who come from difficult circumstances,” Father Harlow said.

He became involved with Kurn Hattin when he was pastor at St. Charles Church in Bellows Falls in 2005, not far from the school. He was invited to give the benediction at the annual Veterans’ Day Ceremony, and the director of music, Lisa Bianconi, asked if he played any musical instruments. Upon learning that he did, she recruited him to play trombone in the low-brass section of the middle school band.

Because there are some 100 students in the music program, adult musicians help them. Father Harlow can play a variety of instruments, so he performed with the jazz band, marching band and select choir for six years.

As pastor of St. Charles, he also helped with the religious education of the
Catholic children, baptized and conferred First Penance and First Communion.

After he was transferred to Chittenden County, it became more difficult for him to travel to Westminster to participate in the concerts and other public events, so he became more involved with fundraising for the Kurn Hattin.

Father Harlow is traveling to his eight former parishes to celebrate a Mass of
Thanksgiving and speak about the St. Nicholas Project, and on May 8, 2018, there will be the grand finale Mass of Thanksgiving at his home parish of St. Francis of Assisi in Windsor at which the Kurn Hattin Select Choir will sing. “Everyone is invited to attend the Mass and reception following — and meet some of the children and staff from the Kurn Hattin Homes for Children,” he said.

“His work for us is astounding,” enthused Stephen Harrison, executive director of Kurn Hattin. “He has a heart for children.”

Harrison said the priest’s ongoing commitment to the school — which generally has 95-105 students in kindergarten through grade eight — “has been a real Godsend in so many ways.”

In addition to raising funds and organizing drives for things like clothing, shoes, quilts and pillowcases, the way he has involved people from throughout the Diocese of Burlington is meaningful to the children, Harrison said. “He has touched so many children’s lives and done so through many people in Vermont who might not have ever heard about us let alone assist us.”

There is a special place for St. Nicholas in the life of Father Lance Harlow.

It’s not just because the saint whose feast day is Dec. 6 is the patron saint of children and known for his charity to children in need, but because he is the patron of a project Father Harlow began in 2015 to assist the residents of The Kurn Hattin Homes for Children in Westminster.

Since 1894, Kurn Hattin has helped thousands of children and their families by offering a safe home and quality education in a nurturing environment.

The St. Nicholas Project seeks to invite the Catholic community in Vermont to participate in the good works taking place at Kurn Hattin. “Since the Catholic Church in Vermont no longer has an orphanage or any direct child-care-related ministries, it seemed the perfect relationship for Catholics to perform works of mercy and experience the joy of loving Jesus in these children who come from difficult circumstances,” said Father Harlow, rector of St. Joseph Co-Cathedral and the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Burlington.

He became involved with Kurn Hattin when he was pastor at St. Charles Church in Bellows Falls in 2005, not far from the school. He was invited to give the benediction at the annual Veterans’ Day Ceremony, and the director of music, Lisa Bianconi, asked if he played any musical instruments. Upon learning that he did, she recruited him to play trombone in the low-brass section of the middle school band.

Because there are some 100 students in the music program, adult musicians help them. Father Harlow can play a variety of instruments, so he performed with the jazz band, marching band and select choir for six years.

As pastor of St. Charles, he also helped with the religious education of the Catholic children, baptized and conferred First Reconciliation and First Communion.

After he was transferred to Chittenden County, it became more difficult for him to travel to Westminster to participate in the concerts and other public events, so he became more involved with fundraising for Kurn Hattin.

Each year he invites all of the parish religious education programs to make Christmas cards for the boys and girls at the residential school; the Catholic Daughters and the Knights of Columbus have been generous with financial donations as well as donating raffle items and sports equipment. Some religious education programs have donated school items and toys.

And one of Father Harlow’s former parishes, Immaculate Heart of Mary in Williston, collected coats one winter for the children. “Parishioners have been very generous,” he said.

This year, in honor of his silver jubilee of priestly ordination — which will occur on May 8, 2018 — he has committed to several fundraising projects for Kurn Hattin with the goal of raising $25,000 in honor of his 25 years of priesthood. These included a September back-to-school shoe fundraiser to provide shoes and boots for the students.

The winners of a Christmas raffle will be drawn at the Dec. 14 Christmas concert at Kurn Hattin. Tickets are still available through Father Harlow or at kurnhattin.org/donate. (Be sure to enter the words “Christmas raffle.”)

Tickets are $25 for one or a book of five for $100. There are three cash prizes $2,500, $1,000 and $500.

The DeGoesbriand Council of the Knights of Columbus in Burlington will conduct a drive to collect sports equipment for Kurn Hattin in April, and in May, parishioners from St. Joseph Co-Cathedral will host a spring tea for ladies to learn more about Kurn Hattin.

Father Harlow is traveling to his eight former parishes to celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving and speak about the St. Nicholas Project, and on May 8, 2018, there will be the grand finale Mass of Thanksgiving at his home parish of St. Francis of Assisi in Windsor at which the Kurn Hattin Select Choir will sing. “Everyone is invited to attend the Mass and reception following — and meet some of the children and staff from the Kurn Hattin Homes for Children,” he said.

“His work for us is astounding,” enthused Stephen Harrison, executive director of Kurn Hattin. “He has a heart for children.”

Harrison said the priest’s ongoing commitment to the school — which generally has 95-105 students in kindergarten through grade eight — “has been a real Godsend in so many ways.”

In addition to raising funds and organizing drives for things like clothing, shoes, quilts and pillowcases, the way he has involved people from throughout the Diocese of Burlington is meaningful to the children, Harrison said. “He has touched so many children’s lives and done so through many people in Vermont who might not have ever heard about us let alone assist us.”

He called Father Harlow’s work on behalf of the residential school “stellar.”

St. Joseph Co-Cathedral Parish in Burlington is believed to be the first parish in the Diocese of Burlington to make space available for an overnight warming shelter.

The parish is working with Spectrum Youth and Family Services in Burlington to provide space for 10 cots for homeless young persons from Nov. 6 until the end of March. The space in the parish hall is open from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. seven days a week.

“Each of us is committed to serving the homeless population during the cold Vermont winters, and I am hoping that our first year in partnership will help to save the lives of young adults who would otherwise find themselves in jeopardy,” said Father Lance Harlow, rector of the co-cathedral and Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception parishes.

According to Mark Redmond, Spectrum’s executive director, the agency had 25 beds available to this young population of homeless persons, but that became insufficient to meet the needs. “We had a wait list, which is terrible,” he said, because that meant some youth had no place to get shelter.

It was his idea to approach the Catholic Church for help, an idea he said Burlington Bishop Christopher Coyne met with a “green light” and referral to Father Harlow.

The co-cathedral space is being used for 17- to 22-year-old homeless persons who can access dinners at other sites and then sleep at the co-cathedral hall. Snacks and a light morning breakfast are provided there, but shower and laundry facilities are accessed at a nearby drop-in center.

Two Spectrum staff members are on duty until 1 a.m. at the parish hall, and one staff member stays awake there from 1 to 8 a.m.

“Those overnight hours will have a minimum impact on the church's schedule, and if there is a conflict with evening Masses, Spectrum personnel will come in at a later time,” Father Harlow said.

“I am happy to be able to collaborate with Mark Redmond at Spectrum and his staff who are doing excellent work with this [young homeless] population,” Father Harlow said. “It is very much a cooperative ministry. The church has the space and Spectrum has the personnel.”

Many of the young persons the shelter will serve have lived in poverty or numerous foster care homes. “Most have lived chaotic lives,” are behind in their education, lack job skills and have low self-esteem, Redmond said.

Spectrum offers a variety of programs to help them improve their lives.

“I see great potential in each one of them,” said Redmond, a parishioner of Holy Family/St. Lawrence Parish in Essex Junction.

“The Catholic Church is doing the right thing here,” he said. “It is in line with the corporal works of mercy” to shelter the homeless and feed the hungry.

This story was originally published in the Winter 2017 issue of Vermont Catholic magazine.

Not every priest went from the family home to the seminary to the rectory. Many pursued other careers before answering God’s call to priesthood.

Whether they worked in business, in government jobs, in the medical field, as a contractor or a teacher, for them, it was a major change in lifestyle and in work.

For example, Father Dallas St. Peter, pastor of St. Mark Church in Burlington, worked as an actuary, but after two years, he realized he “didn’t want to work behind a desk at a computer” but wanted to work more directly with people.

But he didn’t enter the seminary just them. He got involved in education first as a teacher’s assistant in public schools then as a teacher at St. Francis Xavier School in Winooski.

While he was teaching, he debated about going back to school for a teaching degree or entering the seminary. “I was ready to go back to school,” he said.

He chose the seminary because although he enjoyed teaching, he was drawn to the priesthood.

Like Father St. Peter, other priests of the Diocese discerned their call to priesthood while working. They include:

Father Karl Hahr
Father Karl Hahr worked for his father, the late Edward Hahr, at Hahr Construction as a contractor in New Jersey and in the St. Johnsbury area. They built houses and commercial buildings.

He began working in the business when he was 11 and learned about carpentry, putting in sidewalks and working with steel and concrete.

By the time he graduated from Lyndon Institute in 1986, he has worked is way up from laborer to skilled laborer and a few years later worked as a carpenter.

“I’m a jack-of-all-trades, but master of none,” said Father Hahr, pastor of All Saints Church in Richford and several other area churches. He has experience in plumbing and electrical work and can operate a crane.

The construction work helped to foster his vocation to the priesthood. “The crew I mostly worked with were all good Catholics which made for an atmosphere conducive and supportive of living a good Christian life,” he said.

He has done some roofing (which he does not like to do), put in a floor at St. Anthony Church in Sheldon and poured a new cement sidewalk at All Saints with the help of a seminarian. He has done renovations at the rectory, including construction of a chapel; sometimes his brothers (who worked with their father too) or parishioners help him. When the parish office needed a large table, Father Hahr built one; when a friend in Boston needed a tabernacle for a convent, he built one and lined it with marble, adding a carving of the Sacred Heart on the front.

“There is something about seeing the result that is satisfying,” he said about working with wood.

Through his work as a contractor and carpenter, Father Hahr learned patience and perseverance.

Carpentry has always been a part of his life, but though it still is, the priesthood is his focus. “I can’t take on something that takes me away from my ministry,” he said of building projects.

Father Chris Micale
Before his ordination, Father Christopher Micale worked in occupational therapy and mental health counseling and as administrator of recruiting for Dartmouth College football.

While at Dartmouth he had a reawakening to the Catholic faith and was asked to consider the possibility of a priestly vocation by his parish priest and another parishioner. “I think I was becoming increasingly unfulfilled over the years with my work experience, and when I was confronted with this possibility, I began to see that the work I had done up to that point was in preparation for serving the Church in a more formal way,” he said.

He had been on his own, working and living independently, so living in a house of formation with about 70 other men, praying and sharing meals together would be quite a change. “Then returning to a rigorous academic program after being out of school for years was also quite a challenge,” he said. “This was six-year commitment, a frightening thing for someone who was entering middle age at the time.”

He managed the change through prayer and a strong commitment that God had asked him to do this.

Now administrator of St. Thomas Church in Underhill Center and St. Mary of the Assumption in Cambridge, Father Micale’s pre-seminary work required good interpersonal skills and the ability to analyze and integrate through observation of human behavior both physically and psychologically. “The positions I held over the years gave me an understanding of the emotional and physical needs of the human person, his or her development and function,” he said. “This was a perfect foundation for the spiritual work God would ask of me as a priest.”

Also, his office administration background was helpful in running a parish. “You start with God's vision and then through the organizational and interpersonal skills the priest can follow through on what Christ wants for His people at the local parish,” he said. “Every parish has its own identity and its own history within the greater culture. It's a balance in which the priest must express the love of God to the parish and local community especially when difficult decisions must be made.”

Father Lance Harlow
Father Lance Harlow was a radiologic technologist (X-ray technologist) when his vocation to the priesthood emerged. “God was calling me from a profession to a vocation,” said the rector of Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and St. Joseph Co-Cathedral parishes in Burlington. “Generally speaking, a profession is a work one does as a means to fulfill a greater good or lifestyle,” he said, adding that his career as an X-ray technologist was a beautiful profession, and taking care of the sick is a noble end in itself, but my life was empty outside of work.”

A vocation, he continued, fulfills the fundamental need a person has for meaning and purpose and appeals irrevocably to the very core of one’s nature, talents and aspirations. “As a calling from God, a vocation enables one to be fulfilled in the will of God which leads one to a recognition of something far greater than happiness; it leads one to peace.”

The discernment process from his profession to his vocation was the most difficult
decision he has ever made because he enjoyed my colleagues and worked hard in his profession. “I had to abandon both in an act of faith guided only by the restless search to hear God’s voice.”

It took a year of vocational discernment with his pastor at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Windsor.

He was the first priest ordained in Vermont by Bishop Kenneth A. Angell.

Apart from the changes that occur with maturation over time, Father Harlow said that the most significant change in his life since my professional days has been a marked sense of “gravitas,” feeing the weight of the world. “As an X-ray technologist, I saw a lot of sickness and suffering, but it was within the controlled environment of a radiology exam room or hospital room. As a priest, I confront human suffering on a daily basis, and people look to me to take it away. That is weight.”

--Originally published in the Fall 2017 issue of Vermont Catholic magazine.

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